When the Emirates NBA Cup quarterfinals are just hours away.

5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀

Dec. 10, 2024

NBA Cup Quarters In 60 Secs: Everything you need to know as the Knockouts begin on TNT

How The Bucks Got Here: Milwaukee’s season turnaround began in Group Play

How The Magic Got Here: East wild card has remained elite while missing stars

How The Thunder Got Here: Leading the West standings with lockdown defense

How The Mavs Got Here: The hottest team in the NBA entering the quarterfinals

BUT FIRST … ⏰

Monday’s precursor to tonight’s NBA Cup quarterfinals…

Knicks Close Out Raptors: In a game featuring 10 lead changes in the 4th quarter, New York had the final answer, ending the game on a 12-4 run to grab a 113-108 win in Toronto.

• Jalen Brunson’s four-point play ignited the run with 3:03 to play
• OG Anunoby’s clutch block leading to Karl-Anthony Towns’ dagger 3 sealed the game with 6.3 seconds left

20+ Point Trio: Towns (24 pts, 15 reb), Mikal Bridges (23 pts, 5 3s) and Brunson (20 pts, 11 ast) combined for 67 points as New York overcame a 30-point effort from former Knick RJ Barrett, while Toronto lost Scottie Barnes to a foot injury in the 3rd quarter.

• Fitting In: KAT posted his 20th double-double in 22 games as a Knick. He’s two shy of matching his season total from last year in Minnesota (22 double-doubles in 62 games)

1. EMIRATES NBA CUP QUARTERFINALS IN 1 MINUTE

The race for the Emirates NBA Cup began 28 days ago with all 30 teams in contention.

After 60 games of Group Play, the field has been trimmed to eight teams – the three group winners and one wild card from each conference.

Tonight, the single-elimination Knockout Rounds begin with the first two of four quarterfinal matchups – with the winners advancing to the semifinals in Las Vegas on Dec. 14 and the losers being eliminated.

• Magic at Bucks (7 ET, TNT): East top seed Milwaukee hosts wild card Orlando to tip off the quarterfinals. The Bucks have the NBA’s leading scorer in Giannis Antetokounmpo, while the resilient Magic will look to stay hot without their top two scorers in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner
• Mavericks at Thunder (9:30 ET, TNT): Last spring, the Thunder owned the West’s No. 1 seed but were ousted by the Mavs in the West Semifinals. Fast forward seven months and West top seed OKC hosts wild card Dallas in a win-or-go-home game

As seen throughout Group Play, every Emirates NBA Cup game brings a different level of intensity to the players, coaches and fans – there is a Playoff level of buzz and excitement in each arena.

That goes up a notch in the Knockouts as both teams face elimination simultaneously – something that only otherwise happens in a Game 7.

Who Has The Edge? NBA.com’s writers offered their picks to win the NBA Cup with the Thunder being the most popular pick with two of the four votes.

2. ROAD TO THE QUARTERFINALS: MILWAUKEE BUCKS

On Nov. 12, the Bucks entered Group Play with a record of 2-8 to open the season – their lowest mark through 10 games since 2013 – sitting in 14th place in the East.

On Dec. 10, Milwaukee will enter the Knockout Rounds as the No. 1 seed in the East bracket and sixth overall in the regular-season standings.

They’re Back: The Bucks have yet to lose a game in NBA Cup Group Play, repeating last year’s 4-0 run to reach the quarterfinals.

• In 2023, Milwaukee beat the wild card Knicks to reach the semifinals in Las Vegas before their run was ended by the Pacers
• In 2024, the Bucks will host the wild card Magic tonight looking to book another trip to Sin City

Trending Up: As the graphic below illustrates, the Bucks have made significant strides on both sides of the ball after their rough 10-game start.

• Offensive Rating: The Bucks went from having the NBA’s 20th ranked offense over their first 10 games (110.6 pts per 100 possessions) to the 8th ranked offense (116.5) since
• Defensive Rating: The Bucks rose for 22nd in defense over their first 10 games (115.7 pts allowed per 100 poss) to 11th (110.9) since

The Constant: Giannis Antetokounmpo ranks second in the most recent Kia MVP Ladder as the two-time MVP is putting together one of the best seasons of his career.

• Scoring Champ: Giannis (career-best 32.5 ppg) is on pace to win his first ever scoring title, while shooting over 61% from the field
• Freak vs. Joker: Only two players in the NBA are averaging more than 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists so far this season and they rank 1-2 on the MVP Ladder – Giannis and Nikola Jokić

The Bonus: Since clinching their spot in the Knockouts, the Bucks have gotten back three-time All-Star Khris Middleton, who missed the season’s first 21 games.

The Matchup: Tonight marks the first meeting of the season between the Bucks and Magic. The teams split their four-game season series a year ago.

3. ROAD TO THE QUARTERFINALS: ORLANDO MAGIC

On Dec. 3, the Magic fell to the Knicks in New York City, giving New York the East Group A title. Despite the loss, Orlando (+45) had the point differential tiebreaker over Boston (+23) to clinch the East wild card spot.

On Dec. 7, the Magic announced that Franz Wagner would be out indefinitely with a torn oblique muscle – the same injury that forced the Magic to play without All-Star Paolo Banchero since the calendar flipped to November.

Can Orlando, who battled through Paolo’s injury to become one of the hottest teams in the NBA, find a way to keep winning?

• Franz’s Breakout: With Banchero out, Wagner stepped up his game – averaging career highs in points (26.1), rebounds (6.0), assists (6.3) and steals (1.8) over 20 games – to help fill the void
• All-Out Defense: Orlando ranks third in defensive efficiency this season as the team has collectively shut opposing teams down – allowing a league-low 103.3 points per game, while ranking third in steals (9.6) and second in blocks (6.8)

Is Orlando’s defense strong enough to overcome the loss of a second star player with Wagner joining Banchero on the sidelines?

• Passed First Test: In their first game without their two leading scorers, the Magic defeated the Suns on Sunday behind Jalen Suggs’ 26 points and Goga Bitadze’s double-double (21 pts, 16 reb)

The Matchup: Last season the Magic and Bucks split their season series 2-2, with Orlando’s first win on Nov. 11, 2023 snapping a 14-game losing streak to Milwaukee that dated back to Nov. 1, 2019.

A key to the Magic’s success against the Bucks last season? You guessed it. Their defense, which held Milwaukee to 105.0 points per game – the Bucks’ lowest scoring average against any opponent all season.

4. ROAD TO THE QUARTERFINALS: OKC THUNDER

On the final night of Group Play, OKC defeated Utah 133-106 to clinch West Group B and increase its point differential to plus-45 — leaping West Group A winner Houston (+40) into the No. 1 seed in the West bracket.

Double MVP Ladder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished as the Kia NBA MVP runner up a season ago and ranks in the top four in both the season-long Kia MVP Ladder (4th) and the Emirates NBA Cup MVP Ladder (2nd).

• Cup Games: 30.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 7.0 apg, 2.0 spg, 3.0 3PM, 38.7 3P%
• All Games: 29.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 6.3 apg, 1.7 spg, 2.0 3PM, 32.6 3P%
• SGA’s 3-point percentage has risen during NBA Cup games, but his overall production and efficiency has carried over as he has been a steady force for the Thunder all season long

What do you get when you combine an MVP candidate and a historically great defense? The top record in the West (18-5) and top seed in the West Cup quarterfinals.

• Steal/Turnover Ratio: The Thunder are on pace to become the first team in NBA history to record more steals (278 total, 12.1 per game) than turnovers (269 total, 11.7 per game), leading the NBA in both categories
• Hustle: The Thunder also lead the NBA in deflections (21.8 per game) and defensive loose balls recovered (3.4) while ranking second in charges drawn (1.04) and sixth in contested shots (40.7)
• Best In 5 Years: OKC’s league-best defensive rating (103.3 pts allowed per 100 poss) is on pace to be the lowest mark the NBA has seen since the 2019-20 Bucks (102.5)

The Matchup: In order for the Thunder to reach the NBA Cup semifinals, they’ll need to knock off the team that ended their season during the 2024 Western Conference Semifinals – the Dallas Mavericks.

How Close Was That Series? The Mavs won the series in six, but the composite score over those six games was completely even at 636-636.

5. ROAD TO THE QUARTERFINALS: DALLAS MAVERICKS

The Mavs didn’t just have to wait until the final night of Group Play to secure their spot in the Knockout Rounds.

They needed until the final quarter – overcoming a 15-point deficit to defeat the Grizzlies – finishing Group Play at 3-1 with a point differential of plus-46, which was enough to eliminate 3-1 Phoenix (+30 differential).

• Luka Dončić (37 pts, 12 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl) posted his second straight 35+ point double-double in his first two games back from a wrist injury that sidelined him for 11 days (Dallas went 4-1 in his absence)

The defending West champs opened the season 5-7, sitting 12th in the conference following a two-point loss to 14th-ranked Utah on Nov. 14.

Since that loss, the Mavs have won 11 of their last 12 games, own the NBA’s longest active win streak (seven games), and lead the league with 124.0 PPG heading into Tuesday night’s opening of the Knockouts.

Dallas Depth: While Doncic has appeared in only half of Dallas’ last dozen games (averaging 27.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 8.2 apg), the Mavs have been able to go deep.

• Led by Kyrie Irving’s 23.5 ppg, seven Dallas players are averaging 10+ points while appearing in at least eight of the 12 games

The Matchup: Just three teams rank in the top eight in both offensive and defensive efficiency – the Thunder (1st Def, 8th Off), the Mavs (8th Def, 4th Off) and the Grizzlies (who missed the Knockouts).

Round 2: In addition to knocking the Thunder out of the Playoffs last spring, the Mavs also won the first game in this year’s season series – a 121-119 win in OKC without Luka on Nov. 17 – behind P.J. Washington’s season-high 27 points and career-high 17 boards.